On the third day, William was taken out for a walk by Gri.
She like Roa, carried him with ease on her back. His leg was getting better but as a precaution, he kept insinuating that it remained useless. Lucifer followed the humans as they traveled across the valley. Each time they came across a cave entrance, William would ask where it led to. Often Gri’s answer would be: “This doesn’t concern a Skoi…”. A definition William was beginning to get the meaning of.
Past the last visible cave entrance, William mustered to ask, “Where is the exit to this valley?”. It was as if he could feel Gri’s dismay at the notion. She halted for a second to search for an appropriate answer but found none…
She, unlike Roa, wasn’t good with words. So to divert William from the topic, she replied, “... Aren’t you afraid to meet fellow folk with that weird hairdo of yours?... Perhaps, I can help braid it beautifully for you!?”. A strong urge rose up inside of William. It was the urge to kick Gri like a horse and make her speed up her dawdling! How dare she diss his amateur attempt at braiding!?...
Besides her rude comment, he also disliked their stubborn decision of keeping him as their guest. For shouldn’t he be a burden to them and their fellow villagers, food-wise? And just how did they truly feel about him being a bonded person?...
A week passed uneventfully by. At least in the eyes of his hosts. To William, he was well on his way to recovery. The wound had now gotten fully crafted shut. Although it still itched and sometimes throbbed enough to make his teeth grind, he gathered that if he just didn’t stretch his muscles too much, it was in a good enough condition to walk on. So it was finally time to leave, but how? He felt that he needed to do it discreetly as his hosts seemed very keen at keeping him there.
He knew that the moment they saw him walkabout, one of his advantages would be nullified. An advantage he had tried to create for himself if things should get messy…
First things first, William began to prepare himself for the journey homeward. With his fingers still busy tying up his hair, Roa came by for yet another visit. This time, she went over to personally check on his wound. “It looks to be healing quite nicely… Do you think you can walk on it now?”. William smirked awkwardly at her fiddling hands, “Erh… It still hurts too much when I try to stand on it… So I’m afraid that I’ll have to inconvenience you further… I’m truly sorry for the trouble”.
Roa hurriedly assured him, “Oh no, no… No trouble at all!... We relish in caring for you. There is definitely much to gather from this kindness alone”. William commented inside of himself, ‘Of course, there is… For you people at least… Who do you think I am to think there’s something like a free meal?”. Another apple flew to him and he thought: I truly dread this debt that I’m raking up...
The darkness came crawling again to let its most serene and secret pearl be adored by lesser beings. William gave it a gander before he slipped, together with Lucifer, out of the ‘floating’ building. The people of this canyon valley were never asleep, but just before dawn, he found that they were the least active. Thus it was the perfect time to sneak out…
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They managed to pass a few watchers but now came the hard part: Finding the right exit out of this caged environment. They went along the canyon’s edges, when they came upon one of the huge openings into the stonewall. It was like a giant's mouth that breathed cold air. They were about to explore its depths, when from behind his back, a throat was cleared to alarm him of his trespassing, “Skois are not allowed in there…”, Roa informed him.
All stiffened up, William glanced back at the irate woman. He pondered whether she was tasked with stalking them or if she had just randomly met them on her way to work. William went out of the cool tunnel’s mouth and apologized, “Sorry, I was merely looking for the exit to this labyrinth-home of yours… You know. To help Lucifer spot some delicious prey?”.
Roa crookedly curved her lips and then with a fling of her toned arm, a hard fruit came flying. “Silly girl!... We promised to heal you. You’re not healed yet, so you stay”. William caught the round object out of reflex and studied it, “... Another apple?...”. But this one was covered in flimsy leather strips? He took a glance at Roa, who seemed to be willing to leave if he just accepted her gift. And yet… Why was she suddenly holding her breath?
William felt it would be wise to copy her behavior before he continued their play of courtesy. So he gulped down some air in advance, then he politely tried to open the gift. One by one, flaps of the leather was flipped aside to let a sweat-covered meaty flower come to light. William stared at it, not getting why she was granting him this.
“ARUUH!!!”, Lucifer suddenly screamed, with a face that was contorted and taut. William forgot to hold his breath in that second of shock, and it was then that he understood why Lucifer had reacted so strongly to the flower-fruit’s reveal. Because he had never once in his life-time smelled anything that foul! It was in fact so pungent that with just two sniffs, both he and Lucifer was knocked out!
****
Smothered into the earth, he could feel a freezing breeze sweep around his body. Its low temperature made him shiver and open his heavy eyelids. There he was, held down by a massive clawed foot belonging to a winged dinosaur. It was about 10 meters tall. Its eyes were sunken and yellow and it was equipped with a toothy beak. Other than the giant, towering above him, William also noticed that most of the villagers from his welcome-dinner were gathered around them.
At the top of a tall mountain that oversaw the crack of the canyon valley and the sea, a ritual was about to take place.
Lucifer was also present, forced to kneel before the HD-version of the statue the villagers revered: Kaibalac. The dinosaur was birdlike with jaggy edges and dark flaps that dangled from its chin and tail. As William inspected the threat, he saw how bruised its toes were and that it had visible bite marks in its flaps and skin. The returned creature bowed down its head towards its followers and something uncanny happened.
William saw how its once hardened beak, moistened up into a wide human mouth. The transformation used the teeth and skin Kaibalac was born with, but it readjusted them.
Although its new mouth looked human, the lack of skin to form proper lips coupled with its remaining pointy teeth, made it appear rather horrendously creepy.
As their leader, Urka went forth with worry and asked the giant, “Your wounds… Did you manage to take care of the intruders?”. The dinosaur growled a tune that turned into words, “Grr a lot of them… I’ve merely come back to regain my strength…”. Urka gulped and kneeled down beside Lucifer. Her hand rested on its back when she stated, “This is the one who needs saving… It’s so pitiful. So young, yet bonded with Skoi… To even have housed such a rapist makes me feel disgusted with myself and all of my kin”. William was cold to his core.
There was no doubt about it. It was him there were talking about…